Baby has no appetite...

[feeona]

My Baby is now 8 months old. Since being born he has had no appetite really, and suffered from reflux. I ended up giving up directly breastfeeding and now exclusively express because he refused the breast so oftenly I ended up expressing more and a bottle he seemed to take better.  He has never really gained alot of weight -- in the intial months of life gaining an average of 2-3 oz per week.  He was on the 91st centile and is now on the 2nd....  

I only manage to feed him when he is asleep. He will not feed when awake. And the difficulties in getting him to go to sleep mean I am pratically house bound. When he does feed he only takes a few ounces at a time, meaning during the night I try to get him  to feed at least every hour till I go to bed at 1am, and then set an alarm for 3-hours later.... At least once every 2weeks he'll done a over 12 hour starve that has last over 24hours before... where he takes no milk or solids. And when he eventually does take food, he takes very little again. So doesn't compensate for the times period.

He has started solids, he does a mixture of baby-led and spoon-fed, and has done since he started at 6 months. These seem to keep his weight gain more steady. But he still doesn't eat an incredible amount and most mealtimes consist of him screaming and throwing his head back into his high chair...

I have cut out dairy and eggs from mine and his diet.  He is on gaviscon for the reflux. I have seen a pediatrician who says that I should stop his milk feeds and up his calorie intake on solids, little and often. But I've tried this and he just won't take enough solids, plus due to how important I think his milk is, I was very reluctant.  But apart from that his reaction was he's gaining and he seems happy enough in himself so it doesn't matter...

I'm so tired of fighting to get food down him. I just want answers and help....

Fiona, and Thomas. x

[jenniferlee56]

My almost 7 months old boy is the same way since he was about 2 months. I am constantly worried about his milk intake and weight gain. I am glad that I found this post and know that some other moms are going through the same thing. Sometimes I feel no friends or family can understand our pain and they always just tell us he'll eat when he's hungry. But he's never hungry...

[Amyalice]

Ghank you so so much for your update and glad to hear your little one is hralthy and happy.
My Alice is 7 months and failure to thrive has been since 13 weeks. Just will not eat, or drink milk, a couple if ounces can take 2 hours, been this way since about 4 weeks. She refuses the spoon, will try finger food but only swallows small amounts. Any tips on finger food would be so much appreciated. She's seen so many drs, ped's , dietician. Speech therapist tomorrow. Going to ear nose and throat specialist and for an endoscopy. However she is the happiest most wonderful little girl,  she just has no appetite and does not want to eat, ever!
I'm so grateful for your update I really am, thank you and for the advice about accepting that this is how she is as I really do think this is it, this is my baby and this is thd way she will stay, I get so upset and worried sick. But she's happy and as far as we know she's healthy.
Thank you again xxx

[Isabellemomof3]

Hi ladies, I'm writing back after receiving an email looking for am update, my little guy is 5 and a half years old now but was 8 months when I last posted.

So at the 8 month apt I met with a specialist because my gp diagnosed him with 'failure to thrive' which was heartbreaking emotionally.  We underwent a battery of tests to rule out serious diseases and we did a barium swallow test to check for 'silent reflux'.  He had a little reflux and the dr. Prescribed Prevacid.  After using it for 2 months with no changes we stopped using it (I had my doubts bc he really never seemed bothered, he was simply not hungry).  Truly I felt like GERD was just a default diagnosis when the dr. Doesn't know what's going on.  Part of the assistance from the specialist was a few visits with the paediatric nutritionist which was the most helpful appointments we had.  She watched him at (or pick) and ruled out motor skill issues (so essentially we know at this point that there are no health issues- just a small appetite) so the challenge was now defined as a mission to get the healthiest/fattiest foods into this child via small frequent portions.  I spent the next 4 years trying to do that (and continue to).  Now my LO is 5.5 years old, he's only 30lbs, he's the smallest in his class- but he is in good health and he's a great kid.  I'll tell ya though the nutritionist was awesome; she gave me the info I needed to stop obsessing with pounds, weight gain and the normal for everyone else.  She told me that she's sees babies like this and in her experience, with growth spurts later in life they just get hungry to put on a lot of weight in a short period of time (in her words 'he'll grow in the beer and pizza days of adolescence'.) whether that happens or not, I still don't know but she did give me lots of tips which is completely the opposite of any normal health food advice- essentially she put me on a mission to 'boost' everything he ate with high calorie additives (ie. peanut butter, butter, gravy, flaxseed meal, full fat cheese, starch etc.). If he's only going to eat 1tbs of food at a meal I had to make it the richest possible.  I still do this.  I'm happy to share finger food ideas which worked for my LO.  My best advice here is to accept that your child may never follow the 'normal range' and once you rule out health issues, just focus on the great kid you have and just take it 1 small meal at a time.  Wishing you all the best!
Isabellemomof3 (4 actually but I won't change my name;)

[Amyalice]

Does anybody have any updates, my baby's 7 and a half months just the sane. I am absolutely petrified.

[sweetpea1981]

Looks like everyone is having the same issues but no solutions! I'm having the exact same problem with my daughter. She's 5 months old, born 6lbs. She refused to breast feed (would scream and strain to get away) so we bottle fed her expressed milk until 2 months old then moved to formula. Since then she's been awful to feed progressively getting worse. We thought it was silent reflux as she was screaming and thrashing when we tried feeding her. We tried anti reflux milk, gaviscon and now finally nutramigen as the health visitor thinks its CMPI. She's never cried from hunger and now when we try feeding her she doesn't fuss but she turns her head or bats the bottle away. The only time I can feed her is asleep and even then it takes a good hour to an hour and a half to get her to drink by switching the dummy and bottle. She's drinking maybe 3oz at a time and the past few days has dropped from 27oz to 19oz a day. She was following 9th centile but has dropped to 2nd and tbh I wouldn't be surprised if she's dropped further since then as she's not drinking enough so maintain her weight this week. Does anyone know why this could be or what's wrong with her?! I'm so worried she's not going to grow and always concerned about dehydration as I never know if she's going to drink enough each bottle.

[hummingbird77]

I just wrote a paragraph and lost it - the basic gist - I have a 13 month old boy - has NEVER been hungry - only takes bottles in sleep, but now naps less so only gets 1 - 2 bottles a day - I offer 3 meals of 3 items, generally doesn't eat much and when he will eat, it is because he is distracted / entertained - we use flashcards, videos, other people...etc....he doesn't eat b/c he is hungry -  and I am also at my wits end!!! I am wondering if anyone has made it to the point when their child has started to eat decently - what helped (any appetite stimulants?) has anyone gone to intensive feeding programs???